Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

In after Baud. Damn.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Dogscape (Open Thread)

Dogscape (Open Thread)

by | 97 Comments

This post is in: , ,

boxers_sofa

Rules for an L-shaped sofa:

1. The two (2) boxer dogs shall possess 50% of the sofa surface

2. The three (3) humans shall possess the remaining 50%

3. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any heads, tails or paws that extend into the 50% of the sofa designated for human use shall be tolerated

4. The dogs shall ignore the pricey dog beds located adjacent to the sofa, but the humans are free to use aforementioned dog beds when unoccupied by dogs (which is always)

Glad we’ve cleared that up. Please feel free to discuss whatever.

Reader Interactions

97Comments

  3. 3.

    fidelio

    I am now missing both a fly strip (the sticky paper kind) and a cat. I would like to believe two these things are not related.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    Have owned a variety of pets over the years and never permitted any of them on the furniture.

    They understood the training and seemed perfectly content with that arrangement.

    But to each his own.

  5. 5.

    raven

    @NotMax: Ha, if we ever get our addition built we’ll be happy because it is designed for a bigger bed that all of us can fit in!

  7. 7.

    YellowJournalism

    Mine skips her expensive bed and jumps into the dirty clothes basket. Or, worse, lays on top of the clean clothes before I get a chance to put them away.

  9. 9.

    cmorenc

    Next time you could pick an Italian Greyhound, an elegantly dimunitive breed that will gladly *share* the couch with you without preempting any couch-space for humans to occupy – so long as you happily tolerate the dog lying in your lap, preferably underneath a light blanket if the room temp is on the cool side.

  10. 10.

    jayackroyd

    @NotMax: Same here.

    There was an initial attempt to emulate Mrs. J’s upbringing, not allowing the dog in the bedroom. This involved a baby gate, but it turned out Gracie had quite a vertical leap.

    She slept under the bed at night, in her bed during the day. She had a bed at home and one at my office. The office furniture was unappealing, but there was one chair at home she sometimes didn’t get out of quite before the lock turned.

  16. 16.

    el_donaldo

    Fascinating. I substituted two whippets for the boxers, and duplicated your results exactly. I believe we may have a universal constant.

  18. 18.

    cathyx

    I was in the no dog on the furniture crowd when I had one. I didn’t want company to have dog hair all over them when they came and visited.

  19. 19.

    donnah

    Betty, skip this if I’ve posted it before, but our dog Wendy has one section of couch designated for her. But when my sons are all home, the space gets taken over and she has to, much to her horror, lie on the floor! OMG!!!

    One night when we were all engrossed in a movie, she pulled herself off the floor and went to the front door and barked to be let out. Our attempts to ignore her failed, and I told my youngest son to please let her out.

    As soon as he reached the door, she spun around and jumped up onto her rightful place on the sofa. We all burst out laughing, and she was all “What?”

  20. 20.

    Rex Everything

    @schrodinger’s cat: You have no memory of it because the posts weren’t allowed & thus were never posted. I think it was too obvious that I was creating a sock puppet (I intended for it to be obvious), or the fake email address I tried to use didn’t fly, or something. I don’t remember what you & I were arguing about.

    LaFontaine knew his sister & knew her bloody well.

  22. 22.

    Tim F.

    Max easily takes up 100% of his loveseat, so when I want the space I just lift up his doberbutt and sit down with his butt half on / half off my lap. Dogs have a special kind of grunt to signifty indignant complaining crossed with too lazy to do anything about it.

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    @YellowJournalism:

    Or, worse, lays on top of the clean clothes before I get a chance to put them away.

    I find that the correct solution to this is to wash the pet’s blanket at the same time as the rest of the laundry, and then put it at the top of the pile. That way, when the pet decides to lie on the fresh laundry, they’re only getting hair on their own blanket.

  25. 25.

    Yatsuno

    @donnah: Smaht puppeh iz smaht.

    Betty, my mom’s border collie Jill has a couch. All to herself. When she is on it, no humans or other creatures are allowed to occupy it. She also dominates the guest bed when I am in it, but the other dog Jack helps her there.

  27. 27.

    khead

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    We just discovered that lever knobs may not have been that great of a choice in our house. Gracie just stretches out, pulls the lever, and then pushes the door open. Goes wherever she wants.

  31. 31.

    kindness

    See in my house the dogs can be on the couches/chairs. But if a human wants the spot the dogs gotta move over or get off the couch/chair. Yea I’m an ogre that way.

    @Rex Everything:

    Glenn Greenwald twerked at my auntie.

    Somehow I suspect that Glenn Greenwald wants nothing to do with your auntie. Your uncle, maybe.

  33. 33.

    geg6

    @cathyx:

    This is why you purchase leather (or pleather, if you’re of the no-leather turn of mind) furniture.

    Personally, I love to cuddle with Koda on the couch or bed, so I’m prepared to deal with any pet hair issues. We have lint rollers in every room of the house. And we keep plastic drop cloths on everything in our formal living room, which we only use once or twice a year. They hate the plastic and it keeps them off the furniture and expensive oriental there.

  35. 35.

    catclub

    @Rex Everything: My experience is that a new poster has to wait to get allowed by the ‘moderators’ and then is ok. Not sure if even IP addresses are checked.

    You just were not quite patient enough. Wasn’t there something about a haddock along with LaFontaine’s Elk?

  36. 36.

    muddy

    @jayackroyd:

    but it turned out Gracie had quite a vertical leap

    I thought for a moment I had written this! My Gracie has a ridiculous vertical leap, and I have been augmenting the fence all summer, she’s a deer with the mind of a terrier (okay, terrorist). Just straight up and over, you see the cats doing it, doncha?

    @donnah:

    As soon as he reached the door, she spun around and jumped up onto her rightful place on the sofa. We all burst out laughing, and she was all “What?”

    My older dog does this to the younger dog with success all the time. Gets her off his chair, away from the toy, whatever.

    @Tim F.:

    Dogs have a special kind of grunt to signify indignant complaining crossed with too lazy to do anything about it.

    I call it The Snuff of Disgust.

  37. 37.

    The Moar You Know

    I had to put my sixteen-year old (not a misprint) lab mix down yesterday. She had been in superb health until Friday.

    Somebody tell me how one can stop feeling like somebody has shot me through the chest. I am a fucking basket case today.

  41. 41.

    Randy P

    @NotMax: I have claimed to have a No Dogs On Sofa rule also. But in reality it was a No Dogs On Sofa When Adults Are Watching rule. She knew damned well she wasn’t allowed, and my wife’s voice saying “What are you doing on the sofa?” was enough to get her dashing madly for the floor.

    So the kids delighted in holding her on the sofa at that moment and watching her little Labrador brain explode.

  44. 44.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    I need to find new places for discussion. Honest to god, this seems like the only place I frequent now that hasn’t been utterly taken over by some sort of madness, whether it be the usual right-wing crazy, “SCIENTISTS ARE THE STUPIDEST MEN EVER OR FRAUDS!” Climate Change denialism, “FEMINISTS WANT MEN UNDER THEIR HEELS!” MRA-types, or something along those lines. The worst part being how many of these people used to be ostensibly liberal-types.

    This kind of shit reinforces my pessimism about how dragging people leftward feels like pulling teeth, while people can’t be swung rightward fast enough.

  45. 45.

    muddy

    @The Moar You Know: I’m so sorry for your loss. There is no way to stop that feeling aside from time, I don’t think. I guess all one can do is try to bring up the good memories and focus on that. Any friend lost after 16 years would be terrible. One so constant and present in the case of pets.

    As an animal parent one feels the responsibility for not letting them suffer. I believe dogs feel that towards us as well. Your friend would not want you to suffer, especially on her account. For each of mine that passed I made a little photo album each their own and it was helpful to be going through a bunch of pics to assemble them.

    It helped me remember times that suddenly seemed far away.

  51. 51.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Rex Everything:

    eemom is becoming nice, and it’s tripping me out.

    I think she may have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into her heart as her Personal Savior. Angels are rejoicing.

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    @The Moar You Know:
    I’m so sorry for your loss. You have to wait out the pain; like Betty says, there’s really no way around it. But you can always come here and vent your grief when you need to. We’re always here.

  54. 54.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    FYI-

    I’m in “religious mode”. Frank Schaeffer sent me an advance copy of his latest book, “And God Said Billy” to read and review. Halfway through it, easily his best yet.

  55. 55.

    Bunter

    When I moved and bought a new couch, I made sure it was a) long enough for The Hound to stretch out fully and leave room for me and b) deep enough to fit his rear should he decide to sit up. Let me tell you, it’s not that easy finding a deep enough couch for a bloodhound rear end.

  56. 56.

    Rex Everything

    @The Moar You Know: My beloved 17-year old cat died this summer. I know how you’re feeling.

    The only thing that helped me keep it in perspective was that he died just after Tunch. I realized that as hard as it is to lose a longtime friend, it’s not as bad as the shock of an accidental or otherwise untimely death, let alone a horribly violent death. My cat died peacefully. It was his time. I knew it was coming, and so (I think) did he.

    I know this can’t make you feel much better right now. But keep it in mind.

  59. 59.

    Jebediah

    @The Moar You Know:
    So sorry – I wish I had an answer for you, but I’m feeling the same way. Three weeks since Otto passed, and I had time to prepare emotionally since his rapid decline was so obvious. I had to change my screensaver at work so people wouldn’t come in and find me randomly crying because a picture of him had just popped onto my screen.
    I have been trying to console myself by remembering that we gave him a really great life, lots and lots of love and attention. I’m sure that’s true of you, too, or you wouldn’t be hurting so much. Maybe that will help you get through this first wave of grief. My condolences and sympathy. It’s so hard and awful at first, but you will eventually get to the part where you smile when you remember your buddy.

  61. 61.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Yatsuno: Just let me know when you want to pony up for my nym change to the Abbess! I will probably bleg the fundraiser next Monday as Tuesday Septmeber 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. The theme of Stigma: A Major Barrier for Suicide Prevention ties in with our Stigma Busting Stroll. It’s a make or break year for our affiliate.

  63. 63.

    CaseyL

    @The Moar You Know: I’m so sorry. As others have said, there’s no remedy for grief; the only way out is through. 16 is a very respectable age for a lab; you gave her an excellent life. Hopefully, you can find comfort in that.

  65. 65.

    Jennifer

    FYI, but something hinky is going on with the url again. I tried 4 times to get here by clicking on the link in my favorites file and typing in the url, and each time was re-directed to some stupid “trafficmp.com” site. I finally got in by accessing a link to a post in my google history and clicking on the header to get back to the front page. Someone might want to check into it.

  66. 66.

    MikeJ

    Very, very disappointed yesterday when the recent geology grad giving the ranger presentation at Mt. St. Helens had never heard the name Bobby Jindal. Also that nobody knew how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull, but more disappointed that the real experts on volcano monitoring knew nothing about “something called volcano monitoring.”

  69. 69.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Rex Everything:

    And down in Hell they’re wondering what to do with that McMansion…

    I’m sure the Freemasons are already using it to have out-of-control sex parties.

  72. 72.

    The Moar You Know

    Thank you all. This in particular was very helpful:

    As an animal parent one feels the responsibility for not letting them suffer. I believe dogs feel that towards us as well. Your friend would not want you to suffer, especially on her account.

    muddy is very wise. This is true. She’d be horrified. I will try very much to keep this in mind.

  73. 73.

    DFH no.6

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:

    This kind of shit reinforces my pessimism about how dragging people leftward feels like pulling teeth, while people can’t be swung rightward fast enough.

    Pretty simple explanation for that, from my perspective of nearly 60 years, anyway:

    It’s a lot easier to allow yourself to be a whiny-ass, selfish, narrow-minded, bigoted, ill-tempered, cynical prick (you know, lowest common denominator “human nature”) than it is to consciously and deliberately choose to be an optimistic, amiable, altruistic, empathetic (particularly to those not like you), open-minded, amiable, idealistic adult.

    Not that any and all of us aren’t subject to negative thoughts and feelings, of course we are (and sometimes that’s the appropriate response anyway).

    But when you take the easy way out to “I got mine, fuck you” and “Devil take the hindmost” as your primary worldview you become a right-winger.

    Just harder to go the other way.

    And my condolences, too, to The Moar You Know on the loss of your sweet pup. I still miss all my dearly departed ones, even those gone many, many years (current pack numbers three, and yes, they can have the couch — how else could they put their sweet heads on my lap? I’m too old to sit on the floor).

    Having pets is like having adopted children you know will never make it past being teenagers. But you love them and care for them anyway in the brief time they are here.

  76. 76.

    Scamp Dog

    @The Moar You Know: I’m sorry to hear the news. Sixteen years is a great run for a big dog, but that just means more time to work their way into your heart before they go. And hopefully, more good memories for later on.

  84. 84.

    kindness

    @The Moar You Know: OMG I’m so sorry for your loss. Be well. Think of the good times you had. Be sad there weren’t more chapters to that book. 16 is a good age to live to for a bigger dog though.

  87. 87.

    Jay C

    @The Moar You Know:

    So sorry: losing a pet sucks, but barring African parrots and tortoises, it’s part of what we have to deal with making pets of creatures that live less-long than us. As has been said: no way to avoid the pain, just try to remember the good years ( and 16 sounds like a lot for a Lab).

  88. 88.

    Trollhattan

    @The Moar You Know:

    :-( So very sorry!

    I don’t have a solution, only my own version of your situation to draw upon. We had to let go of our 15 YO dog (my first four-legged pet other than a turtle) and the pain was both intense and chronic. Put another way, losing my job of ten years a couple months before was nothing by comparison.

    Getting another dog a couple months later did help. Or, if you’re like Cole, getting one tonight.

  92. 92.

    Tommy

    My brother and his wife are doing through losing three dogs in ten years to cancer. They are having a hard time.

    My darn cats, and I mean that in a nice way cause I love them to death, seem like they might outlive me.

  93. 93.

    Luci

    @Mike E That was exceedingly clever. Had I been drinking coffee, it would have been all over the keyboard.

    @the Moar you know I am SO sorry for your loss. I recently lost a young cat to a freak illness, and I still grieve him. The loss is very hard for you I’m sure.

    We once had a small dog, who one VERY cold night up in Northern Minnesota, whined at me to let her out. I was sitting in the best, warmest chair in the house reading that night. As soon as I got to the door to open it, she doubled back, got in the chair, and didn’t bother to even look at me. She just settled in. I believe I shoved her over enough so we could both fit and have been laughing about it since. She often slept in my bed too.

  94. 94.

    WaterGIrl

    @The Moar You Know: So very sorry to hear this. Your grief is a testament to the love you shared.

    What a lucky girl she was to have been so well loved, and to have lived so long with you in such good health.

    This is the only thing that brought me comfort when I lost my furry loved one:

    There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love.

    – Washington Irving

  97. 97.

    J R in WV

    Late to a dead thread, but my sorrow for your furry loss.

    Having lived 62 years, mostly with adored pets, I recommend rescuing a sweet dog soonest!

    That doesn’t fix everything, but it starts accelerated healing.

    Best wishes!

Comments are closed.